Unsafe flight with a useless flight attendant...?

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Aud

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience. Well, like in all jobs, you can't get everyone to be competent at it or responsible.

In the office, you'll get people stealing stationery, making numerous personal calls when the boss isn't around, have long lunches, etc. In a restaurant, you'll find inattentive waiters, irresponsible and unhygienic chefs, etc. Even in a clinic, you may find rude nurses, uncaring doctors and also (I swear this is true) admin staff deliberately overcharging you to pocket the money!

So in an airline, you can come across lazy, bored, tactless and irresponsible flight attendants. Of course, they shouldn't be so oblivious to their actions; forgetting that passengers are always observing them. Frankly, that guy on your flight is an idiot! You should have written in a complaint against him. This sort of behaviour sould not be tolerated... not even in the lousiest airline!

mega,bus

funny they never said the name of the airline
thats wonderful! now we dont know what airline to adviod!

aflumpire

In a crash, the only people that passengers will look to is the Flight Attendants.

Now....that that FA should be fired....but he wont.

I feel safe when flying as I trust the flight crew on my flights. I have not had a problem with a single FA yet. There have been more problem passengers than problem FA's and I have also never experianced a delay either!

he is hopefully a one off.

DanKohner

Yes, I do.

ROBERT R

I fly so much I dont pay attention.... I simply turn on my iPod and tune out..... Ok should the fly attendent have done those checks.... yes.... Is making fun of the safet video a big deal... not really....

But thats me!

neilinpdx

Flight attendants are on your flight PRIMARILY for your safety. We are there to INFORM, not ENFORCE. We are not police. We make announcements sometimes 2-3 times regarding seat belts, tray tables, baggage, seat backs, electronic devices...not because we WANT to, but because we are required by the FAA to ensure that you are in compliance with those rules. Should you choose to refuse, or NOT to comply, that is of course, your business. There are different ways we deal with THOSE Federal Air Regulations and other FAA rules, either before take off or after landing. The outcome is rarely pleasant or desirable.
Let me address a few things here. Do you KNOW what is meant when you hear the words 'cross check' announced over the address system??? Those aren't words meant for the passengers benefit...those words are not only a reminder to your flight attendants to ensure that all of the safety straps located at each door are secured inside the cabin, but most importantly to have all flight attendants actually double check the opposite door that they have just armed (door arming is to set the door into emergency mode, and is done after the main cabin door is closed and prior to departing the gate) to ensure that no mistakes are made or mechanical problems arise. 'Cross check' isn't to ensure all passengers had their seat belt secured. We make a number of informational announcements and even provide you with a demonstration, AND an illustrated card to show you HOW to put on your seat belt. The small children? Unless they are unaccompanied minors, where are the parents of these 'tiny kids'?? We will do our best to try to remind everyone AGAIN...even individually (if we could only see through those pesky blankets and pillows and coats and sweaters on everyone's lap...), IF we have time. Unless this flight attendant was the only attendant on that aircraft, no doubt he was doing his designated duty...getting an accurate head count for the captain. Another flight attendant(s) duty may have been to secure the cabin and ensure compliance.
About the golf club act...I suspect that you flew on Southwest Airlines...they are infamous for this on their flights, and actually encourage their flight attendants to engage in antics like this. Did it get you to pay attention?? You might not have liked his method, but face it...it got people to notice the aisle path lighting, didn't it?? You did, didn't you?? I suspect you got a lot more out of that demonstration than you think you did.
I've been a flight attendant for 23 years (not with Southwest). If ever I had been crewed with someone I felt was not qualified or was unsafe to fly with, I either wouldn't have gone at all, or one of us would have been replaced at the next stop. THAT has never happened to me.
We crew members sit in a pretty interesting seat. We are ridiculed for doing our jobs, and then when it appears we aren't doing it to your satisfation. We hear it when we're cold and bitchy and unfeeling, and then again when it appears we are having too much fun golfing and joking. We hear how bad the food is and then how awful it is that we don't serve food! We even hear about it when your flight is delayed by a snowstorm or weather...We're all pretty tough skinned folks, and we have heard it all.
We are all trained and certified by the FAA, and when/if needed, able to command an evacuation of all 150 of you in less than 2 minutes.
Did this guy upset you some other way???!!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sounds like my experience on Delta last week.
They are the only airline I have flown that the flight attendants don't do safety checks on the passengers.

flightboy123

I completely agree with the prior poster, Neil. As a flight attendant over 5 years, I think you might have misunderstood some things. The cross check is not at all for passengers. Frankly, you most likely would not be able to see what a flight attendant was cross checking for, nor would you know where to look on the door as each plane is incredibly different in the procedures.

The FAA, your government, requires that flight attendants make PA's in the national language, English, and in the language of destination, if going to a outside country. That is it, believe it or not.

Passengers are adults just like the crew, and they will do what they want. We are not the police, and although we DO carry handcuffs, we dont use them for these types of infractions!

Laughing during the safety speech may have been inappropiate, I agree - but as the prior poster said - did it make you pay attention? When I make a joke during a pa, even before the start of the blah blah blah, i find that i get EVERYONES attention.

People are incredibly stubborn when they get on a plane. It is as if people checked their common sense with their bags. New flight attendants will yell at passengers that have their belts off, and will tell them to do this and do that, and senior more experienced flight attendants will realize that not only is this not required beyond the verbal PA made by one flight attendant, but that it will result in a complaint and problem for the crewmember.

DAMNED IF WE DO, DAMNED IF WE DONT!

"it is a federal requirement to comply with all posted placards, AND CREWMEMBER INSTRUCTIONS"

There ya go.

LeLe

I wouldn't ever rely on a flight attendant for anything. Especially the safety or myself or any of my family members. I've always found that most aren't very helpful or congenial to passengers. There's something wrong when you have to money to be treated rudely. With all of the other "perks" that many of the flights are getting rid of, I think for a lot of the airlines, getting rid of flight attendants might be a way for them to cut costs dramatically.

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